The NBA's True Playoff "Death Lineups"

With the rise of the Warriors in 2014-15, one of their strengths was a 'small ball' lineup with Draymond Green as Center leading a very switchable defensive group where no player was listed as taller than 6'8 (Harrison Barnes 6'8, Green 6'7, Thompson 6'7, Iguodala 6'6, Curry 6'3). With some heroics during the playoffs the stage was set for this group to soon garner the nickname the "Death Lineup" in the following season with its almost unprecedented follow up dominance -- a +163 plus/minus in 173 minutes during the '15-16 regular season.

Later of course they replaced Barnes with Kevin Durant to form an even more powerful on paper 5-man unit. This group shortly had picked up the moniker of the "Hamptons Five" and went on to win two straight titles before falling in the most recent season in part due to injuries to Durant and Thompson.

However, nicknames aside the question is what teams have actually featured the most dominant playoff 5-man units?

Fortunately our friends over at Basketball-Reference.com currently have lineup data going back to the 2000-01 season so we can examine this for almost twenty seasons at this point.

Highest Playoffs Plus/Minus Lineups

Tm	Season	Lineup	G	Min	Plus/Minus	Outcome
DET	2003-04	C. Billups | R. Hamilton | T. Prince | R. Wallace | B. Wallace	23	522	+132	Champion
CLE	2015-16	K. Irving | J. Smith | L. James | K. Love | T. Thompson	20	371	+130	Champion
IND	2012-13	G. Hill | L. Stephenson | P. George | D. West | R. Hibbert	18	415	+126	...conf finals
DAL	2010-11	J. Kidd | J. Terry | S. Marion | D. Nowitzki | T. Chandler	21	163	+115	Champion
LAL	2001-02	D. Fisher | K. Bryant | R. Fox | R. Horry | S. O'Neal	19	369	+114	Champion
WAS	2016-17	J. Wall | B. Beal | O. Porter | M. Morris | M. Gortat	13	250	+106	...conf semis
PHI	2018-19	B. Simmons | J. Redick | J. Butler | T. Harris | J. Embiid	11	173	+94	...conf semis
CLE	2008-09	M. Williams | D. West | L. James | A. Varejao | Z. Ilgauskas	14	273	+92	...conf finals
LAL	2000-01	D. Fisher | K. Bryant | R. Fox | H. Grant | S. O'Neal	16	289	+92	Champion
NJN	2002-03	J. Kidd | K. Kittles | R. Jefferson | K. Martin | J. Collins	20	349	+91	Finals
IND	2011-12	G. Hill | P. George | D. Granger | D. West | R. Hibbert	11	240	+86	...conf semis
LAL	2007-08	D. Fisher | K. Bryant | V. Radmanovic | L. Odom | P. Gasol	21	353	+86	Finals
TOR	2018-19	K. Lowry | D. Green | K. Leonard | P. Siakam | M. Gasol	24	383	+85	Champion
ATL	2014-15	J. Teague | K. Korver | D. Carroll | P. Millsap | A. Horford	14	243	+81	...conf finals
BOS	2007-08	R. Rondo | R. Allen | P. Pierce | K. Garnett | K. Perkins	25	443	+77	Champion
DET	2006-07	C. Billups | R. Hamilton | T. Prince | R. Wallace | C. Webber	16	266	+77	...conf finals
SAS	2011-12	T. Parker | D. Green | K. Leonard | B. Diaw | T. Duncan	12	136	+76	...conf finals
GSW	2017-18	S. Curry | K. Thompson | A. Iguodala | K. Durant | D. Green	9	128	+68	Champion
LAL	2008-09	D. Fisher | K. Bryant | T. Ariza | L. Odom | P. Gasol	21	310	+68	Champion
DET	2004-05	C. Billups | R. Hamilton | T. Prince | R. Wallace | B. Wallace	25	553	+68	Finals

Over the nineteen seasons we have data for, on a simple total plus/minus look the '03-04 Detroit Pistons starting five has the slight edge with a +132 mark (and +41 in the Finals against the Lakers). Six teams featured a +100 or better playoff lineup, with four winning titles.

Notably this Pistons' group stands out for having the top two highest minutes played together for a 5-man lineup in a playoff season (553 in '04-05, 522 in '03-04). This is ahead by a considerable margin over the third hightest minutes lineup used by the '07-08 Celtics with 443.

The '15-16 Cavs beat the Warriors getting a +18 in 86 minutes series from the top lineup (and +36 in 66 minutes with Richard Jefferson subbing in for Love).

The Pacers have two lineups on the leaderboard, but neither could get by LeBron on their own despite the #3 death lineup above being +46 in 179 minutes in the series that season against LeBron.

Also worth noting is that of these top twenty "Playoff Death Lineups" nineteen were starting units...the lone exception being the '10-11 Dallas Mavericks who were #4 in pure total plus/minus but included 6th man Jason Terry joining four starters to be the "closing lineup" and had by far the best plus/minus per minute of any lineup above. This lineup also was outstanding in the finals: +44 in 66 minutes against the Heat.

The '16-17 Washington Wizards had a dominant lineup but couldn't get out of the second round, losing a game seven to Boston -- the starters were doing the job and the team led by 2 when the first sub was made late in the 3rd quarter to the group...when the 'Death Lineup' was fully returned to the court again five minutes later (10 mins left in Q4) the Wizards were losing by...THIRTEEN and couldn't claw all the way back. The unit finished an incredible +77 in 143 minutes against Boston. Too bad players can't play all 48 minutes DC faithful!

Similarly the '18-19 Philadelphia 76ers had arguably the best 5-man lineup in the East but couldn't survive with Embiid resting, losing a game seven where Embiid was +10 in 45 minutes, and the Sixers without him were -12 in 3 minutes...

Finally the Kobe Lakers have four different lineups in the top twenty, all with Derek Fisher manning the point.

NBA 'Death Lineups' per 48 Minutes

Another way to look at this is not just a straight raw plus/minus total but with a "per 48 minutes" effectiveness. To qualify I'll require a lineup to have a raw plus/minus of +50 or higher:

Highest per 48 minutes Playoff Lineups

Tm	Season	Lineup	G	Min	Plus/Minus per 48 Min	Outcome
GSW	2018-19	S. Curry | A. Iguodala | K. Durant | D. Green | K. Looney	9	34	+78	Finals
BOS	2001-02	K. Anderson | P. Pierce | A. Walker | E. Williams | R. Rogers	14	78	+34	...conf finals
CLE	2006-07	D. Gibson | D. Jones | L. James | D. Marshall | A. Varejao	10	88	+34	Finals
DAL	2010-11	J. Kidd | J. Terry | S. Marion | D. Nowitzki | T. Chandler	21	163	+33	Champion
MEM	2010-11	M. Conley | O. Mayo | S. Battier | Z. Randolph | M. Gasol	13	82	+33	...conf semis
CLE	2015-16	M. Dellavedova | I. Shumpert | R. Jefferson | L. James | C. Frye	16	77	+31	Champion
SAS	2011-12	T. Parker | D. Green | K. Leonard | B. Diaw | T. Duncan	12	136	+26	...conf finals
PHI	2018-19	B.Simmons | J. Redick | J. Butler | T. Harris | J.Embiid	11	173	+26	...conf semis
GSW	2017-18	S. Curry | K. Thompson | A. Iguodala | K. Durant | D. Green	9	128	+25	Champion
WAS	2016-17	J. Wall | B. Beal | O. Porter | M. Morris | M. Gortat	13	250	+20	...conf semis

The Warriors Hampton Five make the list here at #9 and might win a popular vote for 'scariest lineup' to face of the above. Surprisingly last season's playoffs with Looney in for Klay was a runaway leader in per minute plus/minus, albeit with a limited sample size of only 34 minutes total.

I'd call your attention though to the #2 lineup on the list, maybe one of the true original pioneers of "Small Ball" in the NBA, the 2001-2002 Boston Celtics who didn't make it past the Nets, losing in six in the conference finals. Check out this 5-man group --

• Kenny Anderson 6'0
• Paul Pierce 6'7
• Rodney Rogers 6'7
• Eric Williams 6'8
• Antoine Walker 6'8